We Laughed Until We Cried
by Phoenix Spirit Fighter
Summary: One-shot. Songfic. Cain relives some memories, both happy and sad, while looking through an old photo album.


****

Just a little songfic that my muses came up with and wouldn't let go of until I actually wrote it. And, I know that Cain acts somewhat OOC in this story, but I think under the circumstances that it's acceptable.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tin Man, its characters, or the rights or lyrics of Jason Aldean's "Laughed Until We Cried." I am making no profit from the writing of this story, it's just for fun and because I think the song is great for Cain and DG. There are a few lyrics from the song "Another Irish Drinking Song" by Da Vinci's Notebook, (though I've changed them slightly to turn it into an Ozian Drinking Song) I don't own those either. Basically, if you read anything and you even slightly recognize it from somewhere else, I don't own it.**

Cain tilted his head to the side as he stood, cringing slightly as his neck popped loudly enough for the whole castle to hear. He vaguely wondered how he had been talked into this crazy idea of "spring cleaning" by DG when he was already so much tidier than she was. Admittedly, it was something she'd been able to talk him into every year, in part because he let her, and in the other part because after a long OZian winter it was always nice to give everything a good dusting. Not that the maids didn't do a stand-up job already, but if there was one way in which he and his wife were the same it was in the fact that they didn't like other people to touch their belongings. As such, the annual cleaning of their own personal spaces like closets and art studios fell upon the princess and her Tin Man.

A tiny spider lowered itself from the closet's door frame, and Cain carefully took hold of the gossamer thread it was weaving and carried it out to the balcony, gently leaving the spider on the stone guard-rail before returning to his task, leaving the doors wide open to let the fresh air and sunshine into the room. Climbing up onto a wooden stool in order to reach the shelf, he shoved a few boxes aside before pulling his hand out of the way of a falling book. Coughing slightly at the cloud of dust the crash had caused, he reached for it and stepped down from the stool, turning the leather-bound book over in his hands. It was a photo album, he realized, slightly dog-eared and with corners of pictures and newspapers sticking out of the sides, but otherwise in good condition. Still waving dust motes away from his face, he moved away from the closet and went back out to the balcony, letting his eyes adjust to the brighter light from the suns as he opened the front cover.

The first few pages were all newspaper clippings, bold headlines declaring the end of the witch's reign and grainy photos displaying everything from rebuilding efforts around the zone to posed images of the four heroes at celebrations and events. Cain chuckled, remembering those few crazy weeks as though they had just been days ago rather than years. He turned a page, and suddenly found himself staring at six people who he never would have recognized if he hadn't been one of them. Even now, he marveled at the fact that DG's mother had agreed to the crazy trip in the first place.

_**Going through my closet the other day  
**__**Found an old yearbook, flipped right to the page  
**__**Of that senior trip, down there on that Panama strip.**_

_**We all started yelling when we smelled the beach  
**__**Couldn't wait to try our fake ID's  
**__**We only had a few days and a whole lot of memories to make.**_

_**Oh man, we were livin', didn't waste one minute  
**__**We talked and drank and danced and said goodbye  
**__**We laughed until we cried.**_

"_Cain, will you relax already? No one followed us, and no one is going to recognize us."_

"_Fake names, Princess," his now-dark-brown eyes cut toward the young woman, whose amber-colored eyes flickered merrily in the bright sunshine as she pulled a pack from the back of the truck. "Don't forget it."_

"_Sorry, 'William,' I won't forget," the transformed DG rolled her eyes, though she was smiling as she pulled her light-brown hair back from her face and into a low ponytail. "But will you relax? We're some of the only people on this end of the beach, and I've got a hunch that our neighbors two doors down are too blind to recognize us even if we didn't have our glamours up."_

_Cain's face folded into a frown, and DG sighed and walked up to him. "Look, Cain, I know you're uneasy about all this, and probably a little curious about how I managed to talk my mother into it."_

"_A little, 'Danielle,'" he grumbled, his narrow jaw setting in a way that only Cain could manage._

"_Look, I just brought up the idea to her, and she thought it was a good plan. The Zone is well on its way to being rebuilt, and you and my father hand-picked some of the best resistance fighters to serve as castle security. Look at us, Cain," she turned and nodded at the other members of their group, each working to unload the truck and carry their belongings into their rented cabin. "We've all been working hard. Mother agreed that it would be a good idea for us to just get away from everything for a while, away from the media and from the city, so we could relax and just be ourselves. You deserve this, and so do Jeb, Raw, Glitch, and Az."_

"_And you, Princess, you've been working just as hard as the rest of us," he chuckled, reaching over and rubbing her shoulder._

"_My point exactly, Tin Man," she smiled. "So why don't you just relax and have fun while we're here? You don't need to be on protection duty twenty-four-seven."_

"_How else am I goin' to keep you out of trouble?" the tall black-haired man laughed, suddenly ducking and grabbing the brunette around the waist, hoisting her onto his shoulder and running toward the cabin, grabbing their packs as he breezed by the truck. Their laughter twined together in the salty air, and another brown-haired girl traded looks with a blond "surfer dude" (to quote from the Slipper princess), who recognized what was going on even without his full brain. The two glanced at their other travelling companions, a long-haired "beach bum" (another Otherside term) and a young man whose features closely resembled his father's, and the four of them just shook their heads before taking up their belongings and heading into the cabin._

* * *

"_I don't want to leave," DG murmured, leaning against Cain's chest, her arms encircling his waist as his went around her shoulders. The surf played at their feet as they gently rocked back and forth to a soft tune that reached them from the boardwalk farther down the beach. Behind them, the others sat around a bonfire, laughing as they shared stories and told jokes. _

"_We've been here for three weeks, darlin'," Wyatt chuckled, resting his chin on the crown of her head. "We're gonna have to go back at some point."_

"_It doesn't feel like it's been long enough."_

"_I know," he sighed, letting his eyes fall closed, listening to the sounds of the seaside. Despite his initial misgivings, he had savored the time they'd spent in this small town. But they were needed back in the city, and would be leaving in the morning. "But I think if you go any longer without organizing all those photos you've taken, it's never going to happen."_

_DG laughed quietly, thinking back to the rolls of film she had gone through since they had arrived at the shore. Dozens of photos of beach scenes, sunsets and sunrises . . . ._

"_Remember the look on Raw's face after that fried-fish-eating contest?" she asked, the memory bringing a wide smile to her face._

"_You got a shot of that, I hope."_

"_Of course I did. I'm still trying to figure out if he was sick from all the fish or surprised at winning."_

"_Could be both. Though, I'm partial to the ones that Az got of you after you tried your first OZian-brewed beer."_

"_First beer ever, Tin Man. I told you the drinking age on the Otherside is twenty-one, not nineteen like it is here."_

"_And of course you're still going to claim that it was a bad sunburn that turned your face so red, not your drink of choice."_

"_If it comes down to it, yes," she sighed, a full-blown belly laugh suddenly erupting from her. "Or . . .or what about that fish that Glitch caught when we went out on the boat? He fought for so long with that thing, and it was hardly bigger than a dinner plate."_

"_He came close to flying overboard trying to reel that thing in. I told him that those fish are good fighters."_

"_But he didn't listen," DG sighed again, her gaze turning to their four companions. Glitch had stood up, offering his hand to Az, which she accepted, and the two of them joined the Tin Man and younger princess at the edge of the shore, their arms going around each other as they swayed to the same quiet melody. It all looked so normal, almost like a scene directly from the Otherside. Not that she had anything to reference it to, but she had dreamed about this sort of thing before. Six friends, just sitting around and enjoying each other's company at the end of a long day; even the clothing looked like it could have come from any department store on the Otherside. The four men were all clad in board-shorts and t-shirts, while DG and Az wore long-sleeved t-shirts over their swimsuits, with beach towels wrapped around their waists as makeshift skirts. She had grossly underestimated the fashions here in the OZ; of course anything they found in one seaside town would closely resemble what could be found in another seaside town, parallel universe or not._

_Jeb had now stood and, in a mocking imitation of his father and Glitch, gave a ridiculous bow to Raw and offered the Viewer his hand, leading him to the surf and leading him in an eccentric version of a drunken waltz. Another belly laugh erupted from DG, with the others soon following as they watched the mismatched friends end their dance, with Raw supporting the younger Cain as he bowed back, promptly dropping him in the water and immediately starting a splash fight; the two princesses trying to escape as their friends chased after them in an attempt to dunk them as well._

"_I'll save you, my princess! Have no fear!" Cain scooped DG up and carried her over his shoulder into deeper water._

"_Cain!" the princess shrieked, trying to catch her breath over her laughter. "Cain, don't you dare!"_

"_One . . . ." the Tin Man teased, pulling her off his shoulder and cradling her in his arms, pretending to get ready to throw her into the surf. "Two . . ."_

"_Cain . . ."_

"_Three!"_

_Whether Wyatt had actually intended to throw DG, none of the others were sure. All they knew that at about the time the younger princess would have left the elder Cain's arms, her arms knotted around his neck, effectively throwing him off balance and sending them both tumbling into the water._

_Cain surfaced a few seconds later, DG cradled in his arms and both of them trying not to snort seawater as he trudged to join their friends, all six of them gasping for breath over their laughter. Collapsing in the sand next to Az, Cain held DG close, finally getting enough air to talk._

"_I wasn't actually going to throw you, you know."_

_His words did little more than send the group into another round of laughter as DG pulled a long strand of seaweed out of Cain's hair. His smile slowly faded when he noticed that her eyes were glimmering in the moonlight, and a few tears were trickling down her cheeks. "Deege, what is it? Are you hurt?"_

_She shook her head, her smile wavering slightly. "Az, can you drop our glamours?"_

_All six of them immediately returned to their normal appearance, and Wyatt tilted his head to catch DG's sapphire gaze with his. "Deege, what's wrong, darlin'?"_

_When she still didn't reply, Cain turned to Raw. "What is it, Raw?"_

"_Does not want to leave, scared that friendships end when return to city. Does not want to say goodbye," the Viewer sighed, tears shining in his own eyes._

"_We're all from different places in the OZ, Cain," the younger princess murmured. "I don't want to lose this, what the six of us have, who we are to each other."_

"_You won't, darlin', none of us is ever goin' to be far away. Jeb and I will be right there in the city, and Glitch, Az, and Raw are still going to be in the palace."_

"_But things like this, Cain, where we can just be ourselves and not worry about court etiquette or being on protection detail or what is proper in the eyes of nobility and our kingdom. I never had this sort of thing on the Otherside, I never had friends like you guys, and I don't want to lose it now."_

"_We can always come back, Deege," Az said, taking her sister's hand and trying to smile, though it seemed that the tears had reached her, as well. "We'll make it a tradition, starting now, that every summer the six of us will come here for a vacation. Mother approved of it this time, I don't think she would mind if we wanted to make it a regular trip."_

_Wyatt caught his son's eye over the princesses' heads and Jeb nodded slightly as a small smile crossed Raw's face._

"_Deege, look at me," Wyatt murmured, shifting slightly to pull something from his back pocket, thanking whatever deity was listening that the pockets on his shorts were deep and fastened closed. "Raw, Glitch, and I spent a week following you around the OZ, and even if things were rough to start out we all ended up as friends. After everything we went through, all the close-calls we had and all those times we sought each other out for moral support, you really think we're goin' to abandon you just like that? I don't think so, Kid; you're stuck with us for life," he held her close for a moment before gently pulling her off his lap and into the sand as he raised himself on one knee, opening the small box to show her the silver ring he had chosen. "And, if you don't mind, I'd like to be stuck with you for life, too."_

Cain smiled widely at the memory, his blue eyes flickering over the photos that filled the album. DG had really caught everything from that vacation, with a little help from everyone else. Raw's face, colored a delicate shade of green, stared back at him in a picture taken after the fish-eating contest, no doubt feeling both his own discomfort as well as that of the other competitors. The one of DG, her face a bright red in perfect contrast to Raw's, as she leaned against Glitch's shoulder after downing her first beer far too quickly. Glitch, standing on the deck of a boat, his trophy fish glaring at him from where it dangled on its hook. Their walks on the boardwalk, riding the Ferris wheel and winning cheap prizes at the carnival games; the bright sunsets and sitting around the bonfire every night, they were all here. There were a few shots he had forgotten about, as well. There was one that Glitch had caught of DG sitting out on their deck one night after everyone else had gone to sleep, barely illuminated by the moonlight as she watched the stars move across the sky. One that Raw had caught of Jeb dealing with particularly nasty sunburn, his skin a frightening shade of blue from the ointment they had bought at a nearby market. Another that Az had taken of DG and himself sleeping on the couch in the cottage's living room after a long evening walk on the shore. He turned the next page, his grin nearly cracking his face in two at the pictures Az had captured of his proposal and DG's enthusiastic acceptance, which had brought happy tears to everyone present.

He flipped through more pages, coming to a few outtakes and newspaper clippings from their wedding; all the others were in their own album, carefully tucked away in a special cove in the library. But the ones that DG had managed to hold on to reflected the parts of their wedding that he remembered the most fondly; a too-close-up of the two of them, matching blue eyes shining as they danced at the reception, Jeb getting hit on by the daughter of a fellow Tin Man, and Raw deliriously, drunkenly happy as the festivities went on around him.

Another page, this one full of photos taken several months after the wedding, around Christmastime. It was their first Christmas as husband and wife, and where traditionally they would have spent their first Christmas on their own, as almost a second honeymoon, Wyatt and Jeb had been contacted by a family member on the other side of the zone, asking them to visit. Where both Cains had thought that DG would want to stay in Central City with her family, the younger princess had surprised them and asked if she could come along.

_**This past year, my family was sittin' crossed-legged  
**_'_**Round the Christmas tree, listenin' to granddad  
**__**We all knew it'd probably be his last**_

_**He was crackin' jokes and we were takin' turns  
**__**Tellin' stories 'bout fishing or lessons learned  
**__**Out on the porch with him, we all felt like kids again**_

_**Oh man, we were livin', sittin' there, reminiscin'  
**__**We sang and talked and traveled back in time  
**__**We laughed until we cried**_

_Jessica caught DG's eye, raising her own eyes to the ceiling as Wyatt, Jeb, and Jessica's husband Christopher performed a theatrical re-telling of a fishing story from Wyatt's childhood. DG smiled; she liked Wyatt's younger sister, who had gone far out of her way to make sure the princess felt at home among the "Cain Clan," as she put it. Benjamin Cain, Wyatt's father, sat off to the side near the Christmas tree, acting as director, producer, and bad-tempered critic of the other men's performance._

_It had been Jessica who wrote to Wyatt and Jeb, telling them of Benjamin's rapidly-failing health and asking them to make the journey back to the old homestead a few days earlier than they usually did. The eldest Cain had been part of the resistance since about the time that Wyatt had been locked in the tin suit, and even after being confined to a wheelchair following a run-in with Longcoats the old man had turned his home into a safe house for those in hiding. Now, with the witch gone, he was glad to have his family back together._

_Cain flopped down beside her on the couch, his eyes shining after his block-busting portrayal of the fish in Benjamin's story. A role that had come about because, according to everyone else, grown-up Wyatt held a closer resemblance to the fish than either his father back in the day or even himself as a child._

"_Come now!" Benjamin bellowed, wheeling himself closer to the rest of the family. "Enough of this theatrical nonsense, we must have a song!"_

"_Oh, no," Jessica groaned under her breath, burying her face in her hands. "Not the Ozian Drinking Song."_

_DG had no time to react before Wyatt's father did for her._

"_Yes! The Ozian Drinking Song, passed down for generations from the time of the Ancients! Translated now, of course, but originally written for entertainment and to make light of the dark winters and to lighten the mood that had been dampened after so many unfortunate deaths. Of course, what better subject to sing about than the deaths that had occurred?"_

_DG nearly snorted her cider at this comment, though it seemed that Wyatt was the only one who noticed. "Does everyone have a drink? Of course we do! Now, Dorothy, dear, I know that you're still a newcomer to the clan, but it's important that you learn the lyrics to this song, so pay good attention and I'm sure you'll catch on quickly. If you ever need a tutorial, feel free to ask my son, as he had every verse memorized before he was knee-high to a Papay. Now, I shall start with the first verse, and everyone else has their own verse to follow!" With this said, he raised his mug of cider (which DG was beginning to think had been spiked with something) and in a deep baritone voice began the first verse._

"_Now gather 'round my friends and foes_

_And sit here for a song,_

_And listen to my mournful tale_

_About the Outer Zone._

_Let's raise our mugs of cider high to friends and family gone_

_And lift our voices in another Ozian Drinking Song."_

_At this point, the princess had decided it was best to not drink anything while the song played itself out, as she was having a hard enough time to not laugh at what promised to be a very entertaining song. What she didn't plan on, however, was her husband singing the next verse, which pushed her laughter so hard that tears started to stream from her eyes._

"_Dragons ate my mother_

_And my father got the pox,_

_My brother taunted trees until he wound up in a box,_

_My other brother in his troubles met with his demise,_

* * *

_My sister has forever closed her shining emerald eyes."_

* * *

"_Dear Dorothy, what on earth are you doing sitting out here all by yourself?"_

_DG turned to look over her shoulder to see the eldest Cain wheeling himself out onto the porch, struggling a bit with the door but working it out in the end. The singing and storytelling had eventually quieted down, and Jessica and Christopher had checked on their sleeping children one more time before going to bed. Jeb had likewise retired for the night, as had Wyatt and herself. But she had laid awake for some time, unable to fall asleep right away in a place that still felt unfamiliar to her, and had finally climbed out of bed, pulled on her heavy winter clothing and snuck out of the house to sit on the porch._

"_I'm sorry if I woke you up, Mister Cain."_

"_Oh, nonsense, after so many years of keeping guard over a house and other people's families one learns to listen for these things. It's no problem at all, and you must call me Benjamin. After all, you are part of this family now," he tapped his fingers on a picnic bench. "Come sit up here and talk to me, there must be something on your mind if you're out here past midnight on Christmas Eve."_

_The princess stood a little stiffly after sitting on the cold stoop, but after stretching a bit she climbed the stairs to sit next to her father-in-law. "Now, what's on your mind, dear?"_

"_I guess I'm still getting used to being part of this family. It's taken me a while to find myself and to figure out who I am, what part I play in this world and I still have a hard time remembering. It's barely been half a year . . . annual, since I was brought over here, and there's still so much being thrown at me I guess it just takes me some time to sort it all out," she smiled slightly, her gaze falling to the silver ring she wore, turning it slightly on her finger. "Six months ago, I never would have guessed that I would be here, married to a wonderful man and part of two completely different yet equally amazing families. I have a big sister who's getting married soon to someone I already consider a brother, and I have a father-in-law who reminds me a lot of the father I knew growing up and a niece and a nephew who already call me Auntie Deege and act like they've known me their entire lives," she sniffed quietly, a tear trickling down her cheek. "This isn't something that I ever really wanted for myself. I had plans on the Otherside, and they all involved getting away from the farmhouse where I grew up and seeing the world. I thought that it would make me happy. But now that I'm here, and I've found all these people who care for me and make me feel like I belong here, I realize that none of those other plans would have made me happy, because I never planned for something like this. And it scares me to admit that I'm happy, because I feel like it can't last forever. I'm just waiting for something to happen that will take all this away from me and leave me feeling the same way I did on the Otherside."_

_The old man sat silently for a moment, thinking."Dorothy, humor an old man for a moment and listen to what I have to say, if you would."_

_DG nodded, and Benjamin reached over and took her hand in his. "The kind of happiness that you have found here, the kind of happiness that I hear in your voice despite the fact that you're fighting back tears, this is not the kind of happiness that comes from simply getting away from a place you don't like or from planning something that you think will make you happy. This is the kind of happiness that won't go away if something changes, because nothing could happen that will take away these things that make you this happy. I agree with you, you married a wonderful man when you wed my son, and I can tell that you make him as happy as he apparently makes you. He will not leave you for anything, nor will anyone else in this family, because we are part of your family just as much as you are part of ours. When you found a husband in Wyatt you also found a sister in Jessica, a brother in Christopher, and a niece and nephew in Lily and Adam. By marrying my son you gave him a sister in Azkadellia and soon a brother in Ambrose. Wyatt is thrilled and honored that you agreed to marry him, and he loves your family as his own. This isn't the kind of happiness that you can plan for, my dear, regardless of how well you plan a wedding or anything else in life. This comes from the love you feel for Wyatt, the love he feels for you, and it's the love that's important, because nothing will ever change how much you two love each other."_

_**It's like the best days under the sun  
**__**Every emotion rolled into one  
**__**A little of this, a little of that  
**__**Kind of happy, kind of sad**_

There was the picture he had taken of the two of them sitting on the porch, his father holding his wife's hand and imparting what wisdom he could to comfort the young woman's tears. He was glad that the camera had been quiet enough to not interrupt the moment, for he had been able to take the picture and sneak back to their room, where he had laid awake until she had come back in and crawled into bed beside him, her arms wrapping around him and her fingers twining with his.

The next few pages held more Christmas photos; the family opening gifts on Christmas morning, playing games and telling stories by the fireplace that evening, photos of the family just being happy and making crazy faces at the camera. Tucked in here, too, was the letter that Jessica had sent to Wyatt and Jeb. The Tin Man smiled sadly as he re-read it; his father had died the morning after Christmas, passing away quietly in his sleep. They had all mourned that day, the tears coming and going as the suns made their journey across the sky, each of them at times inconsolable and at other times the one providing the comfort. Unknown to him, however, or to his sister or son, DG had written to her mother, asking that Benjamin Cain be buried in the royal cemetery, where his son and the rest of his family, including his first daughter-in-law, would someday rest.

Wyatt had to close the album after that, feeling the tears starting to well in his eyes as he remembered the day they had brought his father to the shining city and laid him to rest in the designated plot for the Cain branch of the family. He had been torn between happiness that his family would no longer be kept apart and sadness that his father was gone, and DG had stood there at his side long after the others had left, her hand in his.

Cain sighed, putting the book down as he stared out at the gardens below him. Even with the ever-present buzz of city life beyond the garden walls, the paved paths and stretches of green lawn were a quiet refuge for the royal family when they could not get away to Finaqua. A small, dark-haired figure was walking the stone paths, and even from the distance he could tell by the look in DG's eyes that she was hurting. He didn't have to know anything else, but a hollow pain filled his chest as he watched her sit down on a bench and pull her knees up to her chest, closing herself off from the rest of the world. He picked the book back up, flipping it over in his hands as though it could give him the answers he needed, then turned back toward his room to finish cleaning.

* * *

Hours later, Cain was sitting down at the breakfast nook in the kitchen, sipping a mug of tea as he flipped through another photo album. There were several others sitting on the table, one for each of the six years they had been married. They held all the photos from their return vacations on the coast, newspaper clippings from every anniversary, candid photos of family and friends at birthdays and holidays each year as well as family photos that held more and more people with each new frame. Az and Glitch shortly following their wedding, then about a year later with their new baby girl resting peacefully in Glitch's arms. She was a bright and cheerful little thing, with big brown eyes and her parents' dark hair. She would be turning four, soon. Up until two annuals ago, Jeb stood alone in the family photos, but then his fiancée Anne made an appearance in a picture taken at a New Year's party. Jessica and Christopher were in all the photos, of course, with their children Adam and Lily, both in their early teen years, and now a new child who had been orphaned during the resistance, a boy named Daniel Jonathon who had taken to his Auntie Deege like a duckling to water. It never failed to make anyone smile when the boy's big blue eyes brightened at the sound of DG calling to him with the special name she had for him, "D.J."

The album for this annual was still close to empty, which didn't surprise him. Their summer trip to the coast hadn't even been planned yet, and no anniversaries or birthdays except for DG's had happened yet. But in all of the other albums, there were still empty pages, as though waiting for a promise that was never fulfilled, and he couldn't help but feel that a part of their lives was still empty, as well.

They had tried. They had spent years trying, visiting every specialist they could find but never finding any answers as to why. Sometimes they were told that the trauma she had undergone during her first week in the OZ had affected her, and sometimes they were told that it was stress. Mostly, though, they weren't given any reason at all, only that it was never meant to be.

He had helped her pull through it, telling her that they would keep trying, holding her at night as she cried herself to sleep, telling her that it didn't matter because he loved her regardless while they both knew that it did matter. It mattered to both of them. These blank pages in all of their albums showed how much it mattered.

Wyatt leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn't let it show as much as DG did, knowing that she would need him to be strong for her when she hit a low, but living with the knowledge that he might never have more children broke his heart more than he would ever admit. He had missed out on Jeb's childhood, had looked forward to seeing a different one. He would have loved another son, knowing that it was a possibility since DG wasn't the heir to the throne, but more than anything he wanted a daughter, and his chest ached knowing that he might never hold his baby girl in his arms.

It still hurt her, made her feel as though she had failed somehow, that the happiness they had found in each other was disappearing. He remembered the words his father had said to her, that night on the porch so many Christmases ago, and he wondered if the old man had somehow known that he and DG would have such a hurdle to get over. The Tin Man made it a point to tell her that he loved her, would always love her no matter what they had to go through, and even on the days when her grief threw her into a rage and made her push him away so she could run in the other direction he ran after her, holding her tightly against him as she cried.

He sighed, spinning his mug on the hardwood table before finishing off his tea, thinking back to when he had seen DG walking in the gardens earlier that afternoon, the hollow look in her eyes where there used to be such light, such life. He wondered if they would ever actually get through this, and stood to refill his mug, stopping in his tracks at the sound of feet running through the hallway. He would recognize those footfalls anywhere. DG suddenly burst through the door, her eyes bright with tears as she collided with him, nearly knocking him off his feet as his arms wrapped around her. Her small frame shuddered as she cried, and his gaze flew to Az, Glitch, and Jeb, who had appeared in the doorway, each of them with a matching look of bewilderment on their face.

The princess was in hysterics, her crying more vocal than he had ever heard it, the sound causing his arms to tighten protectively around her.

"Deege, what is it, what's wrong?" he asked, gently rubbing her back, trying not to sound like he was on the verge of panicking himself.

"Wyatt . . . ." she murmured, so close to hyperventilating that she couldn't get another word out.

"Darlin', calm down, come on, take a big breath or you're goin' to pass out," he rubbed her back, surprised that she was able to calm down so quickly, though her breath still hitched in her chest. For a moment, it didn't even sound like she was crying, and he leaned back from her to look into her eyes. Bright blue orbs looked back at him, suddenly bright with more tears ready to fall and he suddenly realized she was smiling. "Deege . . . ."

"Wyatt," she repeated, her choked sobs immediately sounding like laughter as he looked at her, his heart seeming to stop as he waited for her to continue. "You're not going to believe this . . . it happened."

"Darlin'?"

"I'm pregnant, Wyatt, it's actually happened."

The room was still for precisely three seconds before wild cries rose up from the Tin Man and the three spectators, and Cain swept DG into his arms, spinning around in a circle before placing her back on her feet, capturing her mouth in a kiss before pulling back to look into her eyes.

"You're sure, Deege? You're really sure?"

"Yes, Wyatt," she laughed, tears spilling down her cheeks, and she wiped at the tears that were falling from his eyes.

"How far along?"

"About three months. I never thought I was before because my symptoms kept coming and going but I finally had to know. I had an appointment this afternoon and the doctor said that I'm about three months along. I'm sorry I didn't ask you to come, I just wanted to make sure . . . ." her voice cut off as Wyatt pulled her into another kiss, though they were both laughing and crying so hard that they had to cut it short. They didn't have to say anything else, they just held tight to each other as their joy flowed freely down their faces, completely oblivious to the chattering, laughing crowd dancing in the doorway.

* * *

"I got her, darlin', go back to sleep," Wyatt murmured, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he stumbled out of bed and trudged the short distance to their daughter's room. He frowned as he walked through the door, realizing that the night-light had gone out. "Hang on, baby girl," he sighed, turning the ceiling light on.

The little girl was standing up in her crib, her tired wails punctuated by hiccups as she blinked in the bright light. Cain pushed the night-light's plug into the wall and flicked the bulb with his finger, and it finally flickered back on. "There we go. Alright, baby girl, daddy's here," he strode to the crib and lifted his daughter into his arms, reaching down to retrieve the stuffed bear that she always slept with. She burrowed into his shoulder, tiny fists grabbing at his shirt.

"Little Miss Cain," he quietly admonished, turning the ceiling light off and slowly walking to the rocking chair. "What's goin' on, baby girl? You afraid of the dark? It's alright, nothin's gonna hurt you, daddy's here, and he's gonna change that light bulb first thing in the morning, I promise." He rubbed her back in gentle circles, listening as her hiccups finally faded away, letting his mind wander to just two and a half annuals before, remembering the moment of panic in which he was so worried that DG only had more heartbreaking news, followed so closely by the outburst of such joy that had brought tears to both of their eyes, rendering them both speechless as the other members of their family near brought the castle down with their noise. At that point, there was no question as to what the child's name would be if it was a girl.

Wyatt felt his daughter relax in his arms as she drifted back to sleep, her hands releasing their hold on his shirt while pulling her stuffed bear closer. "Daddy loves you, Joy."

_**Just the other night the baby was cryin'  
**__**So I got out of bed and rocked her awhile  
**__**And I held her tight and I told her it would be alright**_

_**And my mind went back to a few years ago  
**__**When we tried so long, we almost gave up hope  
**__**And I remember you comin' in and tellin' me the news**_

_**Oh man, we were livin', goin' crazy in the kitchen  
**__**We danced and screamed and held each other tight  
**__**We laughed until we cried.**_


End file.
